SOTA c45s02
Text Scrivener glared at Barry as they walked along the path towards Ponyville, while Luna hopped happily along behind them. The agent, meanwhile, was only keeping his head low, trying to look anywhere but at Scrivener before he finally asked in almost a whine: “How was I supposed to know that was a bad topic?” “Oh, I don't know, the giant book I wrote on it?” Scrivener asked flatly, and Barry looked awkwardly away before the stallion sighed and looked sourly over his shoulder at Luna, as she simply grinned widely. “I don't see why you're so happy.” “Well, what is not to be happy about, Scrivy? 'Twas such a fun conversation that followed, of foals and family and all manner of madness.” Luna said with clear relish, then she added kindly: “I must admit, though, Barry, if thou did not amuse me so much I would punch thee through a wall for some of the things thou said.” “Well, come on! You tell me this big fantastic story about... monsters and Frost Giants and gods and... well... I still don't know the whole everything behind everything.” Barry said finally, and then he shook his head and added awkwardly: “But uh... you know, thanks, you guys, all the same, for letting me hang out like one of the crew and uh... you know, coming into town with me. You didn't have to do that, I appreciate it.” “Well, 'tis easier this way. Scrivener Blooms can deposit his check, and I am eager to see this 'fan mail' thou has claimed awaits us at the post office.” Luna replied with a nod, before licking her lips slowly. “And of course, there is the ultimate prize that awaits me at Cowlick's engineering facility. Can thou not believe the leaps and bounds we have made over the years, Scrivener? Is it not fantastic?” “Well, Cowlick's been working like crazy, and she's got Greece and all those Nibelung with her, and Ross certainly knows his stuff too, so... yeah.” Scrivener replied after a moment, and then there was silence before the stallion shook his head and continued thoughtfully, as he looked up towards the end of the forest path: “Be weird to see this stuff spreading all over Equestria, though. I mean... I wouldn't want Equestria to turn into Clockwork World, you know? I like having access to it, but... I wouldn't want to see it everywhere. We get along fine as it is.” Luna grunted in agreement with this as they strode out of the forest together, and then Barry glanced towards them, asking curiously: “What's so bad about technology? I mean, hey, okay. Some of that stuff, like that big gun you got there, Lady Luna, is pretty scary. But lots of it's great! I wouldn't know how to feed myself without my coffeemaker or my microwave, and Manehattan has all those electric lights on the streets makin' it safe to go walking out at night, and with a flick of a button you can light up a whole dark room and stuff. And let's not forget the movie theater, champ, where one day you know you're gonna see your books up on the silver screen!” “Aye, because there is so much to fear in darkness.” Luna said flatly, and Barry cleared his throat lamely before the mare paused, then smiled amusedly as she added: “And please, Barry, hast thou not already seen how badly Scrivener handles just being published? I dread to think of his reaction to his work suddenly being available as a movie.” Scrivener grimaced at this, shaking his head and muttering: “Doubt that's ever going to happen, anyway. I Am, You Are wouldn't translate very well to the screen. You'd either have three hours of dialogue or three hours of ponies beating the crap out of each other.” “Now come on, champ, try and be a little positive here!” Barry said mildly, looking pointedly over at Scrivener, and the stallion sighed tiredly and rolled his eyes before the lanky earth pony added brightly: “And hey, remember, we got a meeting with Doctrine, and the fundraiser with Topsy, and Underbrush, well, he's rich and famous and scary. I bet if you asked-” “I'm not going to ask.” Scrivener interrupted flatly, and Barry dropped his head with a mumble as Luna huffed a little. The group continued on into Ponyville in quiet, Luna and Scrivener both tossing greetings to the Nibelung guards and Barry only sulking a little. Then, suddenly, the agent looked up and asked: “What are you going to do with your money, champ?” “I dunno.” Scrivener shrugged a bit, glancing at the satchel bag with his check and a few other odds and ends in it. “I think I'll donate about half of it to charity or something. With my luck I'll probably pick one of those charities that's actually just a front for pony trafficking or something but I can try to do good, right?” “What? Charity?” Barry stared in disbelief, and Scrivener looked mildly back at the lanky stallion before the agent cleared his throat and said finally: “Champ, you realize... you realize how much money you made with that one check alone, right? The little dot is way off to the right on there, not the left.” Scrivener only continued to look dryly over at Barry as he replied easily: “And do you know how much money Luna and I have? Or how we live? We have that little garden in the back, we power everything through Luna's magic, there's a living forest around us, and whenever we actually have to come into town for groceries we basically just run up a tab, then eventually pay it off with whatever treasures Luna and I steal from the last person she beats up or charge it straight to the Barony. I don't have a lot of need for money.” Barry looked almost gloomy at this as they came to a stop, then he glanced over his shoulder and almost flinched at the sight of a homeless mare who was half-hidden in an alley, covered in filth and wearing only rags as she quietly ate a half-rotten apple, a coffee can beside her with a few loose bits in it. The agent shivered and hurried onwards, but Scrivener and Luna traded a soft look before the stallion reached back and dug in his satchel, replying quietly to Barry: “I think we should help others when we can. At least, every now and then, when we have the means to.” He pulled out a few bits to toss into the coffeepot, and the mare glanced up at him with a creaky smile beneath the hood half-covering her face. Scrivener smiled back at her, even as he felt a strange twinge, and then he shook his head and turned to continue forwards, as Barry mumbled: “Hey, I earned my money. And no pony is gonna convince me that I don't deserve my luxury apartment.” Luna scowled at this, but Scrivener only smiled wryly, asking drolly: “Barry, how much of your 'earnings' come from my ideas, and the work of others? Before you go saying stuff like that, remember how many people contribute to a single thing coming together. Besides, I'm not saying you should go sell all your stuff and give all your money away. I'm just saying that every now and then, if you have a little extra... put it towards something that helps people. Can't go wrong with good karma, after all.” The sapphire mare grunted in agreement with a firm nod, and Barry huffed a bit and said grumpily: “You're trying to make me feel bad, right? Well it ain't gonna work. This is my money, champ, and you know what I'm gonna do with my slice of the pie? I'm gonna buy myself... uh... well, something great, just you wait and see!” “I don't even understand how you managed to become a literary agent most days, Barry, or how the hell you're so successful at it. You seem to piss off everyone you meet.” Scrivener said mildly, and Barry looked offended at this... but after a moment, he instead seemed thoughtful, then sighed and shrugged moodily. “Figured.” “I guess we all just got our talents, champ. That's all there is to it.” Barry said finally, and then he looked up brightly as they headed towards the post office, adding positively: “Now hey, hey, I definitely want to see this! Let's see you stay so negative after the heaps of fanmail you have!” “I'm terrified out of my mind right now, actually.” Scrivener said mildly, and Luna glanced curiously at the stallion, then grinned widely as she realized it was actually true: Scrivener was shifting uneasily, eying the post office warily, and already dreading what was to come before he glanced down and muttered: “At least I have claws now. I can claw the face off anything that attacks me.” “Okay, that kind of thing? Do not say that kind of thing during interviews, and do not go showing off your crazy claws or anything.” Barry said with a wince, and the agent added hurriedly: “But you know, it is something that we could maybe discuss bringing up later on, putting you in a sympathetic light and all-” “Yes, I'm sure lots of ponies will sympathize with the fact I'm turning into a monster. I have sharp teeth, claws, I eat meat and I bleed corruption. Oh, sure, I can now prove everything I wrote about is true, but I think that just might make people hate me more. Or think that maybe I was lying about everything except the part where I said I'm a monster, not a pony.” Scrivener replied dryly, and then he glanced over his shoulder curiously, just in time to catch a figure stumbling into a side alley. “Are we...” Luna only gave him a small smile, sending a gentle answer to him that it was just the homeless mare, and the stallion nodded slowly after a moment even as Barry only shot a quick look back. But the agent was clearly not concerned about anyone possibly following them, saying instead in an eager voice: “I think we can work with that, though. Yeah, you know, the whole: 'I look like a monster but I'm not' angle, once we have enough time to... you know. Figure things out. For now, I think you should just keep things quiet but champ, let me do my thing-” “No. I hate it when you 'do your thing.' I feel like such a damn hypocrite.” Scrivener interrupted, and Luna grunted in agreement as Barry sighed and looked pleading. “Anyway, I do agree that we should... try and just keep it quiet for now, yes. I don't want to explain having claws and back-spikes to ponies quite yet. Although thankfully I at least haven't had too many issues with the latter.” Then the stallion glanced up as they approached the front of the post office, pushing his way inside... then squawking when Luna simply charged forwards, knocking him flat and trampling over him as she hurried to the counter as Barry winced and looked awkwardly down at the charcoal stallion from the doorway. “Guardians of envelopes! I demand my husband's packages!” She paused... giggled stupidly to herself... and then the unfortunate clerk asked lamely: “Ma'am, do... do you have your package slips?” “He has not slipped me his package recently, nay.” Luna said seriously in return, and Scrivener groaned from the ground before he picked himself up and strode pointedly past Luna towards the rows of post office boxes on the wall, muttering under his breath as the mare simply continued to stare at Luna, and the winged unicorn huffed after a moment. “'Twas a sex joke!” The mail clerk managed a weak smile, and Luna studied the earth pony mare moodily before frowning at her glasses, the way her mane was done up in a bun so tight it almost screamed, the cultured jewelry. “Perhaps thou does not understand what I mean by that, however.” “Okay, here we go.” Scrivener said loudly as he slammed the door of his cubbyhole, and he headed over to the mare with not only a slew of letters, but several slips he put down on the counter, the clerk looking relieved to have an excuse to head off into the back with these. As she did so, the stallion turned a pointed look to Luna, but she only yanked one of the letters quickly away from the bundle Scrivener had awkwardly cradled up in one foreleg, the stallion giving her a flat look. “I hate you sometimes, you know that, right?” “Aye.” Luna replied absently as she shredded the envelope, then beamed brightly as she pulled the letter free from the remains. “Oh, how adorable, it looks like a card! Aye, it is a congratulatory card... how quaint. Look, Scrivy, it reads, uh...” She bit her lip and frowned, and Scrivener smiled a little despite himself as the mare read slowly: “'The Lost Five congratulate you on your success, and would like to extend an open invitation to join them should you ever be in the Canterlot area, during the first or third week of any month. Please find us at the Prancing Pony Inn, and guests are more than welcome to attend. Yours in arms, the Lost Five.' What in the name of Asgard are the Lost Five, Scrivy? They sound like a band of warriors! Are we being invited to the table of warriors?” “Hey, the Five? See? See? See?” Barry said excitedly, and then he grinned brightly as Scrivener only rolled his eyes in amusement, but smiled all the same at the agent's almost child-like enthusiasm. “No, no, the Lost Five was originally made up of Canterlot's five top writers, including the Court Poet who replaced Scrivener Blooms. They run a 'members only' kind of writer's group, and meet the first and third Wednesday of every month. Very posh. Very debonair. Very good news.” “I hate writers' groups. I hate closed writers' groups more.” Scrivener remarked, and Barry looked at him with a whine as Luna laughed and shook her head, before the charcoal stallion rolled his eyes and frowned curiously over at Barry, who was fidgeting even more than usual. “Wait a minute... you didn't try to get in to the Lost Five before, did you? I mean, I know you tried to be a writer yourself, Barry, but...” Thankfully for Barry, there was no need for him to answer as a clerk and the familiar gray Pegasus mailmare both came out of the back, carrying packages of all shape and size, and Scrivener stared blankly at this as Luna lit up like a foal on Hearth's Warming Eve, bouncing giddily as the clerk mumbled: “Sir, you're going to have to sign for all of these, and a few of the larger letters.” “You must've made a lot of people smile with your book.” added the gray mailmare, her yellow eyes crossing for a moment as she looked down with a wheeze, before she glanced up with a smile and blinked several times. “But I think I can understand why some people might like it.” Scrivener smiled awkwardly after a moment in return, feeling oddly touched, while Luna looked jubilant and Barry rubbed his hooves together eagerly. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all. Top ↑